We’re popping in quickly from our annual summer vacation (read: dissertation writing) with a round up of recent journal issues for your summer reading pleasure. Now online are new issues of the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, History of the Human Sciences, and Memorandum: Memory and History in Psychology (Memorandum: Memória e História em Psicologia). Full details, including titles, authors, and abstracts, follow below for each.
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
“Operant Psychology Makes a Splash—In Marine Mammal Training (1955–1965),” by James Arthur Gillaspy Jr., Jennifer L. Brinegar and Robert E. Bailey. The abstract reads,
Despite the wide spread use of operant conditioning within marine animal training, relatively little is known about this unique application of behavioral technology. This article explores the expansion of operant psychology to commercial marine animal training from 1955 to 1965, specifically at marine parks such as Marine Studios Florida, Marineland of the Pacific, Sea Life Park, and SeaWorld. The contributions of Keller and Marian Breland and their business Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) as well as other early practitioners of behavioral technology are reviewed. We also describe how operant technology was introduced and formalized into procedures that have become the cornerstone of marine animal training and entertainment. The rapid growth of the marine park industry during this time was closely linked to the spread of behavioral technology. The expansion of operant training methods within marine animal training is a unique success story of behavioral technology.
“Beyond the Schools of Psychology 2: A Digital Analysis of Psychological Review, 1904–1923,” by Christopher D. Green, Ingo Feinerer and Jeremy T. Burman. The abstract reads,
In order to better understand the broader trends and points of contention in early American psychology, it is conventional to organize the relevant material in terms of “schools” of psychology—structuralism, functionalism, etc. Although not without value, this scheme marginalizes many otherwise significant figures, and tends to exclude a large number of secondary, but interesting, individuals. In an effort to address these problems, we grouped all the articles that appeared in the second and third decades of Psychological Review into five-year blocks, and then cluster analyzed each block by the articles’ verbal similarity to each other. This resulted in a number of significant intellectual “genres” of psychology that are ignored by the usual “schools” taxonomy. It also made “visible” a number of figures who are typically downplayed or ignored in conventional histories of the discipline, and it provide us with an intellectual context in which to understand their contributions.
“Are Women Naturally Devoted Mothers?: Fabre, Perrier, and Giard on Maternal Instinct in France Under the Third Republic,” by Marion Thomas. The abstract reads,
This paper examines some of the debates over maternal instinct in France under the Third Republic. It focuses on the work of three naturalists (Fabre, Perrier, and Giard) and shows how these scientists shaped, reinforced, or challenged feminine identities as well as a number of sexual social conventions making constant reference to the natural as their authority. This paper highlights these scientists’ views on womanhood and maternity and their stances on contemporary feminist discourses as well as seeking to establish the extent to which these views and stances influenced their scientific discourses and practices. It also aims to demonstrate the interpenetration of science and policy, not only in terms of the transfer of political concepts into the scientific domain (and back again), but also as a joint construction process, which produced a new political and natural order in nineteenth century France.
“‘Laboratory Talk’ in U.S. Sociology, 1890–1930: The Performance of Scientific Legitimacy,” by B. Robert Owens. The abstract reads,
This paper examines one aspect of early twentieth century debates over the meaning of scientific methodology and epistemology within the social sciences: the tendency of sociologists to invoke “laboratory” as a multivalent concept and in reference to diverse institutions and sites of exploration. The aspiration to designate or create laboratories as spaces of sociological knowledge production was broadly unifying in early American sociology (1890–1930), even though there was no general agreement about what “laboratory” meant, nor any explicit acknowledgment of that lack of consensus. The persistence of laboratory talk in sociology over decades reflects the power of “laboratory” as a productively ambiguous, legitimizing ideal for sociologists aspiring to make their discipline rigorously scientific.
“‘Human beings in the round’: Towards a general theory of the human sciences,” by Norman Gabriel and Lars Bo Kaspersen. The abstract reads,
In this introduction we highlight Norbert Elias’s bold attempt to build a general model of the human sciences, integrating the social and natural sciences. We point to a range of different disciplines, emphasizing how he rarely developed a consistent critique of individual disciplines, though he often made some very fruitful suggestions about they should be reconceptualized in a relational and more integrative way. Based on our own research on survival units and the contributions to this special issue, we discuss the innovative potential of his ambition for transdisciplinary research, while at the same time offering an overview of some of the limitations in his theoretical perspective. We reassess his attempt to integrate the natural and social sciences within one universal testable model, and, at the same time, we consider areas like religion and economics that were rarely systematically investigated in his own theoretical approach.
“What economists forgot (and what Wall Street and the City never learned): A sociological perspective on the crisis in economics,” by Stephen Mennell. The abstract reads,
The article presents a figurational sociological perspective on the recent history of the discipline of economics in the wake of the global financial crisis or ‘Great Recession’ that began in 2007–8. It is argued that the orthodox mainstream of economics has provided ideological cover for abstract individualism, for short-term greed, and for the denial of the wider social responsibilities of business and finance. The faith in ‘free markets’ has been associated with a blindness to power relationships and an indifference to economic inequality. Orthodox economics is congruent with the mythical American Dream. The article draws upon the writings of Norbert Elias to reflect upon economics, and then in turn uses those reflections to raise some questions about Elias’s theories, particularly his ideas concerning functional democratization and increasing pressures towards more habitual foresight.
“The taming of the aristoi – an ancient Greek civilizing process?,” by Jon Ploug Jørgensen. The abstract reads,
The aim of this article is to discuss how the increasing social control of violence and aggression, which characterized the period from the Archaic to the Classical Age in ancient Greece, can be explained as an Eliasian civilizing process. Particularly crucial for this development is the question of how the city-state’s distinctive urban-political structures were the locus of this civilizing process. Accordingly, it is argued that not only are Elias’s key concepts analytically relevant to the ancient Greek civilizing process, but also that they are to be reassessed in the light of the ancient Greek city-state culture. Thus, by the advancing of the argument that the civilizing process is not a uniquely western phenomenon, which occurred in western Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, the analytical relevance of Elias is re-evaluated and augmented.
“Towards a complex-figurational socio-linguistics: Some contributions from physics, ecology and the sciences of complexity,” by Albert Bastardas-Boada. The abstract reads,
As figurational sociologists and sociolinguists, we need to know that we currently find support from other fields in our efforts to construct a sociocultural science focused on interdependencies and processes, creating a multidimensional picture of human beings, one in which the brain and its mental and emotional processes are properly recognized. The paradigmatic revolutions in 20th-century physics, the contributions made by biology to our understanding of living beings, the conceptual constructions built around the theories of systems, self-organization and complexity, all these implore that we reflect on social sciences paradigms in the light of the great changes in these other disciplines. The application of metaphors or theoretical images of complexity and figurational sociology in understanding language and socio-communication phenomena is of great use, since language is not an ‘object’, but a ‘complex’; it exists simultaneously in and among different domains. ‘Languaging’ and interaction are co-phenomena. The former exists within the latter, and the latter within the former. By visualizing, for instance, the different levels of linguistic structure not as separate entities but rather as united and integrated within the same theoretical frame, by seeing their functional interdependencies, by situating them in a greater multidimensionality that includes what for a long time was considered ‘external’ – the individual and his or her mind-brain, the sociocultural system, the physical world, etc. – and expanding in this way our classical view, we should be able to make important, if not essential, theoretical and practical advances.
“Figurational sociology and the rhetoric of post-philosophy,” by Stephen Dunne. The abstract reads,
Norbert Elias’s early work – specifically ‘Idea and Individual’ – offers a positive account of philosophy’s potential contribution towards historically oriented concrete sociological investigation. His later work, on the other hand, characterizes philosophical investigation as little more than a distraction from the myth-exposing vocation of the (figurational) sociologist. This later ‘post-philosophical’ account of figurational sociology predominates today. Within this article, however, I suggest it has come to prominence through a series of dubious rhetorical strategies, most notably subtextual hearsay and disingenuous caricature. By dispensing with the post-philosophical rhetoric, I argue, figurational sociologists might again, following the Elias of ‘Idea and Individual’, take the possibility of a philosophically grounded sociology seriously. If the article does not convince figurational sociologists to revisit philosophy as a potentially positive sociological resource, however, my effort will not have been wasted for as long as it demonstrates the presently dubious nature of their post-philosophical rhetoric.
“The dawn of detachment: Norbert Elias and sociology’s two tracks,” by Richard Kilminster. The abstract reads,
This article draws on Elias’s observations on the origins of political economy and sociology as well as his theory of involvement and detachment to supplement standard accounts of the history of sociology. It shows how, in the 1840s, sociology bifurcated into two tracks. Track I was the highly ‘involved’ partisan track associated with Marx and Engels and track II was the relatively ‘detached’, non-partisan track pursued by Saint-Simon, Comte, Lorenz von Stein and others. These two tracks continue to shape contemporary sociology as basic orientations. The polarization of class conflict predicted in Marx’s theory is contrasted with the class interdependence model in Lorenz von Stein, in particular. Elias’s work is understood as a synthesis of later developments in track II in which he strongly reaffirmed the historical separation of sociology from philosophy. Elias’s work is presented as a central theory of society and as a promising alternative to the prevailing practice of theoretical eclecticism in sociology.
“Growing up beside you: A relational sociology of early childhood,” by Norman Gabriel. The abstract reads,
This article will begin by outlining influential attempts by historians and sociologists to develop a more adequate theoretical understanding of past and contemporary childhoods, focusing on the major problems that stem from the pivotal role that ‘developmentalism’ plays in their arguments. I will argue that sociologists can overcome some of their deepest fears about the role of developmental psychology by developing a relational approach that integrates the biological and social aspects of children’s development. In the development of a relational sociology of early childhood we need to make important connections with closely related disciplines, but at the same time draw on and integrate research findings from relevant areas within the social and natural sciences. An alternative perspective drawn from the writings of Norbert Elias will be put forward and illustrated by discussing some of the key concepts that Elias and Vygotsky used to explain the language development of young children.
Memorandum: Memory and History in Psychology
(Memorandum: Memória e História em Psicologia)
“Editorial,” by Miguel Mahfoud and Marina Massimi. No abstract provided.
“On the grounding of rationalist Psychology in the XVIII century: an analysis of the confrontation between Mendelssohn and Kant about the simplicity of the soul,” by Monalisa Maria Lauro, Luís Henrique Dreher and Saulo de Freitas Araujo. The abstract reads,
The argument of the simplicity of the soul has a high acceptance among rationalist philosophers who aim to substantiate the thesis of the soul’s immortality. This is the case of Mendelssohn, who invigorates Plato’s Phaedo and improves this argument, as well as the demonstration of the incorruptibility of the soul. Since his work is a remarkable reference in the German Enlightenment, we confronted his arguments with Kant’s objections to the theoretical proofs of the immortality of the soul. This allowed us to verify that his argument about the simplicity of the soul can be between those that Kant describes as transcendental paralogism and his defense of the incorruptibility of the soul fails when the conditions of the objective use of the pure concepts of the understanding are fulfilled. Having articulated these discussions, we could clarify Mendelssohn’s sagacity and emphasize the accuracy of Kant’s objections, which are decisive in the historical development of psychology.
“Training in psychology in Argentina: contributions from the sociology of knowledge and the critical history of psychology,” by Catriel Fierro. The abstract reads,
Areas of critical history of psychology and the sociology of knowledge are analyzed, to define their contributions to the training in psychology in Argentina as a part of the Southern Cone of America. The revisionist history in psychology and the German tradition of the sociology of knowledge are first described. Contributions from regional psychologists that have referred to this paradigm explicitly are then described. Relations between the two areas and psychological science are drawn to get to specific contributions to psychology training in Argentina. It is concluded that through a systematic training in social history of psychology and sociology of knowledge, a social notion of scientific activity is acquired; discussion and awareness of ethical and axiological questions are allowed; academic dialogue is encouraged, and, finally, professional self-consciousness is enabled.
“Miguel Rolando Covian, the interface between science and philosophy: dialogue with Aristotle and Ortega y Gasset,” by Marcos Candido. The abstract reads,
This study analyses two important articles written by Miguel Rolando Covian – Science, technique and humanism, and Science and religion – where the author addresses the issue of human knowledge and the complex aspects regarding everyday life. Given the humanistic crisis and the hypertrophic look that characterizes modern culture, Covian suggests, in the light of the contributions from Aristotle and Ortega y Gasset, to expand the use of human reason considering the multidimensionality of the real and as a subsequent result, the complementarity of the knowledge. In this way, a fruitful exchange of results obtained through scientific and philosophical research appears as necessary epistemological principle that allows the Man to develop the most suitable world as such.
“Memory and its plasticity: A historical revision of Freud’s notion of memory,” by Carolina Fasano Quintella and Paulo José Carvalho da Silva. The abstract reads,
The present work sets out to examine how Freud understands human memory and how it works. In order to do so, a thorough rereading of some of the key studies on Freudian thought must be done. To completely comprehend this phenomenon, since the author assumes that the forgotten content was not eliminated or lost, but can be found in the dark and unknown unconsciousness of any individual, it is necessary to begin investigating his initial theories, which in one way or another involve memory as a casual factor of human attitudes. Using this idea, we propose a panoramic-not-exhaustive research on the way that memory works and intend to make a conceptual history of human memory according to Freud’s theory.
“The images of the unconsciousness politics: social psychology and critical iconology,” by Arley Andriolo. The abstract reads,
The interpretation of images given by psychiatry has had a long history based on psychopathological categories of art. The discourses written about the works of art created into the Brazilian psychiatric hospitals between 1946 and 1956 promoted specific social and historical forms of perception. This article tries to discuss the problem concerning the speeches and the images in three Brazilian hospitals (Juquery/SP, Engenho de Dentro/RJ e Juliano Moreira/RJ), where we find different ways to perceive and interpret the images. In the social-psychological study field of image it tries to think how critical iconology could help understand the “images of the unconsciousness”.
“From consciousness to brain: speculation on nervous processes in Freud and the Gestalt Psychology,” Fátima Caropreso and Richard Theisen Simanke. The abstract reads,
Both in Freud’s metapsychology and in Gestalt Psychology, similar stances can be found concerning the need that psychological theories include speculative hypotheses about brain processes underlying psychic phenomena. The arguments formulated by these theories allow some relevant reflection on psychology’s contemporary situation and context, in which the limits and the relationship between psychology and biology are still polemical matters. In this paper, the theoretical models proposed by Freud and by Gestalt psychology to explain the mind-brain relationship are addressed and some of their arguments on the need to make assumptions about the organic bases of psychical processes are discussed – assumptions that would be formulated through the observation of conscious phenomena. In brief, the article seeks to approach some theoretical viewpoints of these two currents of thought which are often overlooked in the history of psychology and which may still be relevant to the current context of this discipline.
“The emergence of the practice of mental health care of children inspired by psychoanalysis in the early twentieth century through the work of Durval Bellegarde Marcondes,” by Jorge Luís Ferreira Abrão. The abstract reads,
Psychoanalysis was introduced in Brazil since 1920 contributing to the appearance of new practices of health care for the child. Therefore, the present article aims to discuss the link between psychoanalysis and practices focused on children’s mental health that emerged from the 1930s through the work of Durval Marcondes, a pioneer in the dissemination and use of psychoanalysis in Brazil. A historical research was held from a survey on Durval Marcondes’s work and the team led by him confined in the epigraph theme. It was found from that work that the link between mental hygiene, new school and psychoanalysis developed a pioneering service of care to children with school problems based on the diagnostic evaluation and guidance of parents and teachers. It is concluded that this work introduced the differentiation between children with cognitive and emotional problems and provided the foundations of psychoeducational and psycodiagnostic interventions.
“Human development and production of knowledge: trajectories of research of phenomenological and hermeneutical nature,” by Vitória Helena Cunha Espósito, Maria das Graças Barreto da Silva, Gilberto Tadeu Reis da Silva and Geraldo Magela Salomé. The abstract reads,
This paper has as object of study investigations developed as a methodological course in the context of Joel Martins Chair, focusing on the experience of subjects living the inseparable health-education interface from an inter/multi/transdisciplinary perspective. It intends to emphasize that the pre-objective and pre-reflexive consciousness present in phenomenological discourses shows up as a special way to the comprehension of the modes by which the subjects engaged in the research live their acts, formulate meanings and produce knowledge. As methodological support, hermeneutical phenomenology has provided the comprehensive/interpretative reading of the research presented. As result of this reading, it emphasizes the need for a critical stance in systematic investigations, discernment that it is possible to make science from the lived experience and the intervention in reality. It concludes that the building of knowledge, humanizing educational actions and care constitute a transforming activity in constant (re)construction.
“The caldron of the insurgent: “pretos velhos da mata”,” by Rafael de Nuzzi Dias and José Francisco Miguel Henriques Bairrão. The abstract reads,
Despite the heterogeneity found in the spiritual category “preto-velho” (old black man), there are not systematic investigations on the matter yet. Thus, this study investigates the symbolism and the ethnopsychological uses and ranges of a “deviant” subcategory: the “preto-velho da mata” (old black man from the woods). For that, a fieldwork was developed in a terreiro (umbanda´s temple) through participant listening, a deployment of the ethnographic method conceived by the contribution of lacanian psychoanalysis. In addition, semi-opened interviews were made with mediums and their spiritual entities. “Pretos-velhos da mata” revealed themselves as insubordinate spirits that defy dichotomies by fusing in a single character “preto-velho” and “exu”. Yet they provide symbolical resources for people to elaborate personal issues and conflictive social memories that constitute themselves as subjects in world and in time.
“Chronicle of an announced disassemble: the case IAMB – Agricultural Institute for Children and Adolescents in Batatais,” by Sonia Maria B. A. Parente and Gilberto Safra. The abstract reads,
This paper addresses the issue of abandoned childhood and adolescence in the State of São Paulo, through a research that is being conducted on the care given to children and adolescents of an institution that operated in the State of São Paulo. The memory of the work done in this institution has been disappearing from the community life in which it emerged. This research also aims to rescue aspects of the memory, history of children and adolescent in the state of São Paulo. As a research method, we used science historiography. As research procedure, we used interviews with former employees and inmates as well as the mapping of primary sources, such as documents and newspaper from that time. The analysis of documents revealed the existence of a successful educational project, established on clear grounds, possible and self-sustaining, which started to suffer a dismantling process in the 70s.
“Religiosity, contemporary culture and psychology,” by Lilian Maria Borges and Antonio Ferreira de Sousa. No abstract provided.
“Phenomenological realism and irreducibility of the person to corporeality,” by Rosalia Caruso. No abstract provided.